Red Guitars Glasgow Garage 2022

Thanks to everyone who came to our Glasgow show of our first tour in 38 years, a lovely audience to play to. We have had a fantastic time. Thanks to AEG, to the venue team, and to Chelsea for a great sound.

Here we are, all the original band back together, Hallam Lewis, Jeremy Kidd, John Rowley, Matt Higgins and Lou Duffy-Howard, joined in 2022 by Jos Allen and Doug Swallow.

Fab set of photographs by Richard Duffy-Howard tell the story, have a look:

Thanks to our guests The Mind Sweepers and Ian Stacey for the memorabilia.

Thank you to everyone who sent us lovely messages on social media, here’s a few:

“The wonderful return of Red Guitars in Glasgow last night. I’ll be grinning for weeks – all of Slow To Fade, and the early singles played with pride, skill, and love to an audience who loved them back. Slow To Fade means a lot to me, remembering a lost friend – I was so moved.” @IRobStacey1

“This is theeeeee red guitar. It sung last night, all the way from Cape Town. Small stage Big band, Huge noise, Tre-bloody-men-dous” @pegdeg

“Well, thank you very much @RedGuitars that was smashing. Just heard about gig the other night on Gideon Coe @gidcoe, so glad I went. All filled up with emulsion (as my old malaproping auntie used to say).” JM

“Thank you guys so much for a wonderful gig last night in Glasgow, so good to finally see you live.” Scott McLuckie

“Yep! I was excited as soon as the re-union was announced, and the gig I went to in Glasgow was a lovely celebration of great songs, by a band who clearly were enjoying being back together and performing again. So many highlights – Cloak and Dagger being one of mine.” SR

“The set also reinforced my view on the strength of the band’s catalogue. They played pretty much everything they ever released and three of the four singles were played in the first half dozen songs, yet that didn’t affect the show’s momentum one bit. Album tracks like ‘Remote Control’ and ‘Dive’ were spectacular yet B-sides ‘Within Four Walls’ and an extended ‘Heartbeat Go!’ (used to introduce the band) were every bit their equal. All of this built the set nicely for a sensational (and complete!) ‘Good Technology’ which provided a singalong finale to the main set.” Manic Pop Thrills

“I’d been following Lou and her band on Twitter for a while, and when it was announced that the original line up of the Red Guitars was going to get back together and tour, I had to keep checking that it wasn’t some elaborate joke being played on me. It was truly a “dream come true” for me, as I’d loved the band in both line ups, and collected their back catalogue in record form over the years. A ticket was purchased as soon as they became available, and on Friday 22 April, I travelled across to Glasgow to attend the gig in The Attic, at the Garage on Sauciehall Street. It was lovely to recognise all the band as they mingled with us in the venue, and I reverted to being a gawky, diffident, teenage fan, asking for a 7″ single of Good Technology (The bands first single) to be signed, and offering a old Red Rhino Records bag as a bribe. The shop was based in York, and was where you bought the records that were outside the top 40, and released on independent labels, before “indie” became a musical genre. The gig was just a total joy – I have to admit that I’d shared my love of the band with a friend who lived in Belfast, on a road-trip to watch motorbike racing a few years ago, and it turned out he’d seen them when they supported The Smiths, and loved the title track of their first album, “Slow To Fade”. He’d had his demons, and died suddenly in 2006, and as soon as the opening guitar riffs chimed out, beautifully played by Hallam, and the superb John Rowley, my eyes welled up at the memory. I’m afraid to say that I was a bit of a mess during the whole song, but eventually composed myself – it was such a moving moment. The band encored with Paris France, and we all sang along, not wanting the night to end. A band that managed to combine brilliant lyrics, with music that was as uplifting as it was complicated, The Red Guitars remain my favourite band, and I just wanted to say “Thank You” to the band, and everyone associated with them for making me, and many other fans, so happy. With much love x” IRS

Next up this week we head south to Brighton, London and Birmingham. Come and join the party